Shenan:
True, WSUS *might* help but after the wsus v1.0 debacle several of my
customers decided not to rely on this technology any longer to avoid
automatic reboots and data loss. the new wsus may have potential if you can
afford the additional ressources but if it really works flawless only time
can tell. anyway this is a windows update forum so lets stick to that!
Shure, there is the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers registry key (which I
found out only today, its so very nicely documented by MS), but will it work,
allways, in domains as well as in workgroups, with and without wsus?
Why not implementing some additional non-cryptic user-readable settings in
the Windows update applet (such as Installing at next shut down, Installing
at next power up etc...)?
And, finally, I cannot think of an update that so urgently needs to reboot
that it cant wait for a user to get a chance to save her open files!
Obviously arrogance is a new attitude in the large MS portfolio lately!

Berndl666 wrote:
> True, WSUS *might* help but after the wsus v1.0 debacle several of my
> customers decided not to rely on this technology any longer to avoid
> automatic reboots and data loss. the new wsus may have potential if
> you can afford the additional ressources but if it really works
> flawless only time can tell. anyway this is a windows update forum so
> lets stick to that! Shure, there is the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
> registry key (which I found out only today, its so very nicely
> documented by MS), but will it work, allways, in domains as well as
> in workgroups, with and without wsus?
>
> Why not implementing some additional non-cryptic user-readable
> settings in the Windows update applet (such as Installing at next
> shut down, Installing at next power up etc...)?
>
> And, finally, I cannot think of an update that so urgently needs to
> reboot that it cant wait for a user to get a chance to save her open
> files! Obviously arrogance is a new attitude in the large MS
> portfolio lately!

The NoAutoReboot option has been around and in the white papers for a long
time - before WSUS - we used it in SUS. It was fiully discussed in the
white papers that should be read when configuring. =)

And if you have not tried WSUS - you may want to look at it - it's web
interface is very nice - giving you many of the options you mentioned right
there - as well as the ability to see a list of clients and what updates
they need, etc.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Berndl666" <Berndl666@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FB31D0E7-8802-412A-A0CC-9DFA9E6D5DEA@microsoft.com...
> Shenan:
> True, WSUS *might* help but after the wsus v1.0 debacle

The "wsus v1.0 debacle" (whatever you mean by that)..... should /not/ be
compared at all to the WSUS v2.0 product that is now available. The
differences between SUS v1.x and WSUS v2.0 are like night and day.

> several of my
> customers decided not to rely on this technology any longer to avoid
> automatic reboots and data loss.

If there were issues with "automatic reboots" and "data loss", then I'd
respectfully suggest this may have been a function of a /misconfigured/ client
environment, not the server product.

> the new wsus may have potential if you can
> afford the additional ressources but if it really works flawless only time
> can tell. anyway this is a windows update forum so lets stick to that!

Come and chat in the Windows Server Update Services group about your concerns
about WSUS. I'd be happy to chat with you from a practical and realistic
perspective about what's great.. and what's not.

As for "additional resources".... in consideration of equipment available
today, the resources for WSUS are virtually insignificant.

> Shure, there is the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers registry key (which I
> found out only today, its so very nicely documented by MS), but will it
> work,
> allways, in domains as well as in workgroups, with and without wsus?

Yes... this value is interpreted and used by the Windows Update Agent, and is
entirely independent of where the WUA gets its content from.

> Why not implementing some additional non-cryptic user-readable settings in
> the Windows update applet (such as Installing at next shut down, Installing
> at next power up etc...)?

"Install at shutdown" is available to Windows XP Service Pack 2 systems.

"Install at next powerup" is automatically configured -- by default -- and
will occur if a /scheduled/ installation is missed (most likely because the
system was powered down).

> And, finally, I cannot think of an update that so urgently needs to reboot
> that it cant wait for a user to get a chance to save her open files!

Which is why the default notification is FIVE MINUTES!!! :-)

And this can be expanded to up to 30 minutes, if you'd like.

> Obviously arrogance is a new attitude in the large MS portfolio lately!

EVERYTHING I mentioned above is documented.... one only has to make the effort
to obtain and read the documentation.